With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
December 15, 2011 - 10:56 a.m.
I've wasted enough time I have to write. Yes I am not going to blame the Chronoklepts today. I'm not taking personal responsibility, it's just that today is their day off. It's some sort of Chronoklept holiday. Alternate side of the street parking is still in effect.
I gave two tests yesterdays. That makes the actual teaching easy. I only made one typo on the tests but that was a classic. Instead of writing "sec x" I wrote "sex." That is always a danger.
I rushed out of the house so I'd have time to print up the tests. When I did I forgot my phone and my pills. That's not good. Then I didn't get to get home early like I wanted because I spent a lot of time with a student in my office after class. Yes I actually put my students first. Because of that I grabbed fast food in the City instead of cooking like I had planned. I won't be going out that much for a week so that's not too bad. I'll being doing plenty of cooking.
I had a somewhat better night's sleep last night I only woke up once from the leg cramps. . I took a hot bath an hour before I went to bed and then stretched my calves immediately before and actually after getting into bed. When the cramp started it wasn't in the calf but in the middle of the top of my foot. It then spread and I had to get out of bed and couldn't sleep for an hour but that's less of an interruption that I've been having. Tonight I'll stretch my feet too. How? The muscles on the top of the foot control the toes so I'll stretch them by curling and uncurling them. I’m doing it right now as type.
Now back to Tuesday night and John Platt's On Your Radar. John's guests were Nik Rael, The Whispering Tree, and Christopher Brown. This was an unusual lineup as I was unfamiliar with all of them. John and I travel very much in the same circles, he has the highest Closeness Index [A statistic I invented to measure how much two people's social circles overlap] of all my friends.
Last you heard I was getting ready to go. Getting their ended up being an adventure. When the F train pulled into Roosevelt Ave there was announcement that there was trouble on the sixth avenue line and the train would go on the G tracks. The G train doesn't go to Manhattan even, it goes straight into Brooklyn. I got off and waited for the E train. I then switched back to the F train at W 4th Street which is after the place where the problem was. The upshot is that I was late and arrived just as John was finishing his interview with Christopher Brown. I couldn't sit in my usual seat but John saved me a seat at his table right next to it. I didn't see them when I walked in but Lori not LORi, Joe, Rona, and Bob also saved me a seat. They were not well placed for photography which is how I usually chose my seat for On Your Radar.
Christopher Brown
Chris does not play the kind of music I usually hear. It's hard to say why but I know exactly what he reminds me of. The kinds of singers I'd see on variety shows when I was a kid. He could have been on Ed Sullivan or Dean Martin and not when they were being out there. Perhaps even better it's the kind of music that Tom Lehrer would parody before he got political. "This is one of those songs where the father gives advice to his son going out into the world…" Now I'm not saying he's bad. He isn't The Act.. I think it comes down more to presentation than the music. He puts on his performer, let me entertain you, persona when he takes the stage instead of a more naturalistic approach. He has the pipes to sing anything but he didn't connect.
I didn't catch Whispering Tree at NERFA because I thought I had already seen them and they simply hadn't made an impression. As soon as they took they started playing I realized that I was wrong, they leave an impression.
The Whispering Tree
They do not play your standard singer/songwriter music. Some of the songs reminded me of early angry Bob Dylan as in Masters of War. This was visceral protest music with an edge. Other songs reminded of Berthold Brecht. That's not a combination you'd expect and doing the unexpected is art's job. They did a Brechtian cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow that reinvents the song. It's a cover worth doing. They are the antithesis of the act. Yes I was impressed. At first I as kicking myself for missing them at NERFA but on second thought this was better. I got to discover other musicians there and I got to see them anyway. I don't need to be the first to discover somebody. It isn't a competition. I just want to hear the great music. I signed up on their mailing list connected on Facebook.
Nik Rael took the stage by himself and did a soulful bluesy first song. Then he was joined by his band and transformed into a rocker and he brought me with him. I was in bopping along and tempted to head bang.
Nik Rael
I'll use a visual aid. You can tell his guitar player rocks. Look who signed his guitar.
I didn't see Nik after the show so didn't sign his mailing list. I friended him on Facebook. I'll keep up with his shows that way.
I got around to socializing between acts and after the show. Who was there that I haven't mentioned yet? Maggi, Lisa, Dan, Suzanne, Stuart, Richard and Viki, and the always important, people I'm forgetting because I have no brain. The seeing friends is always an important part of On Your Radar and it's one of the reasons you should go to the shows. It isn't just an audience, it's a club. You get to spend time with people that love music as much as you do.
I got a ride home from Rona and Bob. That's becoming a habit. I had considered eating in the City since I had eaten nothing since breakfast but I wanted to get home since I was so tired. I had the fixings for a very easy and fast dinner, kielbasa that I put on the George Foreman Grill and Trader Joe's frozen mashed potatoes. This is exactly why I bought the potatoes, for nights like that.
OK now I have get my day going. I have two tests to grade and I want to pick up bagels. Why does it always rain on days I need bagels. If I don't buy them today I have to wait till Sunday when the wait for the bus is much longer and the store is more crowded. I can't risk not having bagels in my house can I? I guess I should do laundry tonight too but that can wait another day or two. Now it's time for poached eggs.
mmm mmm Soup - February 11, 2012
Wasted Days and Useful Nights - February 10, 2012
Mets Agnostic - February 09, 2012
The Amazing World of Jules Verne - February 08, 2012
Blah - February 07, 2012
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile December 15, 2011
